Rufous Treepie

We had few drizzle the other day and a visitor to our garden the Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda). I wanted to catch both the drizzle as well as the bird in a single shot. So I used a slow shutterspeed of 1/200 the second. You can see some streaks of rain drops in the picture. Not an ideal speed to catch rain drops (1/60 is the best speed to catch those rain drops) since I had no IS on my Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM which will make the picture blurry. So 1/200 was a compromise I had to live with.

The Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda) is an Asian treepie, a member of the Corvidae (crow) family. The underparts and lower back are a warm tawny-brown to orange-brown in colour with white wing coverts and black primaries. The tail is a light bluish-grey with a thick black band on the tip. The bill, legs and feet are black. The range of this species is quite large, covering all of India up to the Himalayas, and southeasterly in a broad band into Burma (Myanmar), Laos, and Thailand in open forest consisting of scrub, plantations and gardens.

This is a typically arboreal species feeding almost completely in trees on fruits, invertebrates, small reptiles and the eggs and young of birds; it has also been known to take flesh from recently killed carcasses. It is extremely agile while searching for food, clinging and clambering through the branches and will sometimes travel in small mixed hunting parties with unrelated species such as drongos and babblers. This species has a variety of calls, but a bob-o-link call is the commonest along with a variety of harsh calls.

Indian Robin

I photographed this Male Indian Robin using on Canon EOS 5D mark II using Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM on very cloudy evening. Female was nearby but I could not get a good shot of her.

The Indian Robin (Saxicoloides fulicatus) is a species of bird in the Muscicapidae family. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The males of northern populations have a brown back while those of the southern populations have a black back. They are found in open scrub areas and often forage along the ground and perch on low shrubs and rocks.

This bird is found in open stony, grassy and scrub forest habitats. The tail is held upright and the vent is brown or dark chestnut. The males are glossy black with a white shoulder patch while females are smoky brown with grey underside. The nominate race is found in southern Peninsular India. Race leucopterus is found in Sri Lanka. Race cambaiensis of western India and erythrura (erythrurus) of eastern India have the males with brown backs. Race intermedius is found in central India and parts of the Deccan region. A race munda was named for a specimen from Punjab but is now considered synonymous with cambaiensis. Older classifications include a race ptymatura for the population in southern India with the typical form being considered as being from Sri Lanka. The species is often found close to human habitation.

They feed mostly on insects but are known to take frogs and lizards especially when feeding young at the nest. Individuals may forage late in the evening to capture insects attracted to lights.

Males sing during the breeding season and males display to females by lowering and spreading their tail feathers and strutting around the female.

Nests are built between rocks, in holes in walls or in a tree hollow. Nests are lined with animal hair and it has been noted that many nests have pieces of snake sloughs. The eggs are of regular oval form, but many are elongated and a few pointed. They have a fair amount of gloss. The ground-colour is white, often tinged with faint green or pink, and this is rather closely spotted, speckled, streaked, and mottled, with rich reddish or umber-brown and brownish yellow, with some underlying lavender. The markings are denser at the larger end of the egg, where they form an irregular cap. Some eggs are blotched with dark reddish brown at the large end. Eggs measure from .76 to .84 in length, and from .55 to .62 in breadth. There is anecdotal evidence of them laying their eggs in the nests of Turdoides babblers. Chicks have black down.

The breeding season is December to September but varies according to region and usually begins with the first rains. Males sing during this season. They may sometimes peck at their own reflections during this time. Peak breeding in northern India is in June and is earlier in Southern India.In Sri Lanka it breeds in March to June and August to September. Cyclic changes in melanin pigmentation of the testes associated with breeding have been noted. Three to four eggs is the norm but clutches of up to seven have been noted. Only the female incubates. Eggs hatch in about 10 days. Both males and females feed the young and males sometimes feed the female at nest. Nestlings are known to be preyed on by the Rufous Treepie(Dendrocitta vagabunda).

Male Loten's Sunbird with spider in its mouth

I found this male Loten’s Sunbird in my garden the other day with spider in its mouth. The Loten’s Sunbird or Long-billed Sunbird, Cinnyris lotenius (formerly placed in the genus Nectarinia), is one of a group of very small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar. Sunbirds will also take insects, especially when feeding young and Loten’s Sunbird is possibly more insectivorous than other sympatric species. Their flight is fast and direct on their short wings.

Male Loten's Sunbird

Long bill separates this from the sympatric Purple Sunbird. The wings are browner and the maroon breast band is visible on the male under good lighting. The call is distinctive and they are also very active often bobbing their head while foraging.

The song of the male is a long repeated wue-wue-wue… with the last notes accelerated. The males may sing from the tops of bare trees or telegraph wires. Loten’s Sunbird is a resident breeder that is locally common in forest and cultivation in India and Sri Lanka. Two eggs are laid in a suspended nest in a tree. The bag of webs, bark and caterpillar frass.

Loten’s Sunbirds are small, only 12-13 cm long. They have long down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to their nectar feeding. The bill lengths vary across populations with long bills found on the east of Peninsular India and in Sri Lanka.

The adult male is mainly glossy purple with a grey-brown belly. It is similar to Purple Sunbird, but is larger, has a longer sickle-shaped bill, and a different belly colour.

The eclipse male has yellow-grey upperparts, darker than Purple Sunbird, and a yellow breast with a blue central streak extending to the belly. The existence of an eclipse plumage in the adult male has however been questioned. The female has yellow-grey upperparts and yellowish underparts, but lacks Purple’s faint supercilium. The call is a buzzy zwick zwick.

Found only in peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The main region is along the Western Ghats and into the southern peninsula. There are scattered records from central India and into the northern Eastern Ghats near Orissa. Race hindustanicus is found in India while the nominate race is found in Sri Lanka.